[Relations between pure-tone audiometry and cortical evoked auditory potentials]

Slow vertex response (SVR) audiometry is presently one of the methods of choice in objective auditory threshold assessment. The aim of this study was to evaluate, as objectively possible, the relationship existing between the thresholds of SVR and or pure tone audiometry (PTA). The study was carried out on twenty subjects with hearing losses of various degrees and types. While mean differences between SVR and PTA thresholds ranged between 6 to 13 dB, in some cases values over 30 dB were found. No statistically significant intra- and interindividual discrepancies were found, even though in some cases the thresholds were given different in evaluations by different examiners. No statistically significant difference in SVR versus PTA thresholds was found in patients with sensory-neural and conductive hearing loss, while in subjects with normal hearing the difference between the thresholds was greater. Our results suggest that SVR is a reliable technique in objective threshold evaluation but that in single cases its threshold cannot be directly compared to that of pure tone audiometry.